2014
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DVD Review: ‘The Frozen Ground’
★★☆☆☆ Based on the grisly case of serial killer Robert Hansen, Nicolas Cage and John Cusack star in Scott Walker’s functional yet largely forgettable thriller The Frozen Ground (2013). State trooper Jack Halcombe (Cage) is two weeks away from retirement, at which point he plans to move away from the city of Anchorage with his…
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Special Feature: ‘American Hustle’ charms the Globes
In what was the strongest indication yet of which films will walk away with what at next month’s Academy Awards ceremony, David O. Russell’s American Hustle came out on top at this year’s Golden Globes with a win for Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy) and individual accolades for Amy Adams (Best Actress, Musical or…
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Special Feature: LSFF11 to screen Bafta shorts & more
Perennial champions of the abridged form, the London Short Film Festival returns this month for its 11th incarnation, cementing its position once again as the premiere UK showcase for groundbreaking, innovative independent film. Festivities commence tomorrow evening (9 January) with a very special BEV screening of The Punk Singer, an upcoming documentary about Kathleen Hanna…
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Film Review: ‘The Square’
★★★★☆ Last summer, the 2011 Egyptian revolution was brought to UK screens through Ibrahim El-Batout’s sober drama Winter of Discontent (2012). It was a film that suffered from a significant sense of anachronism by the time of its release culminating, as it did, with the inherent hope of the now famous demonstrations in Tahrir Square.…
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Film Review: ‘The Railway Man’
★★☆☆☆ If it was the intention of The Railway Man (2013) director Jonathan Teplikzky to make a torturous film about torture, then hats off to him. On the other hand, if he was aiming to make an awards-worthy tale of romance, revenge and redemption, then Teplikzky and screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce have failed and failed…
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Film Review: ‘Delivery Man’
★★☆☆☆ The death throes of the Vince Vaughn comedy vehicle must surely be imminent. The Internship (2013) certainly represented the sharpening of the reaper’s scythe, but Delivery Man (2013) may give it a brief stay of execution. Canadian director Ken Scott here remakes his successful French language indie Starbuck (2011), smoothing some of the rougher…
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Film Review: ‘After Tiller’
★★★☆☆ A long overdue foray into the hugely controversial debate on late-term abortion in the Unites States, Martha Shane and Lana Wilson’s After Tiller (2013) focuses upon the four remaining doctors willing to carry out the procedure. Following the assassination of their colleague Dr. George Tiller in 2009 at the hands of an anti-abortion activist,…
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Baftas 2014: ‘Gravity’ leads the nomination pack
Live-streamed to the film-adoring world earlier this morning at bafta.org, the official nominations for the 2014 Baftas were revealed by rising British stars Luke Evans and Helen McCrory to an expectant online community. A surprise to some, Alfonso Cuarón’s space opera Gravity leads the pack with eleven nominations, earning nods for Best Picture, Best British…
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DVD Review: ‘Lust in the Dust’
★★★☆☆ You’ve got to hand it to Arrow Video for assembling an increasingly bizarre collection of lost obscurities for new generations to enjoy. One such oddity is Paul Bartel’s Lust in the Dust (1985), a film which almost defies description. Starring Tab Hunter, Divine and Lainie Kazan, this amalgamation of western homage and sex farce…
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Blu-ray Review: ‘Big Trouble in Little China’
★★★★☆ When reflecting on eighties action, it doesn’t take long for your mind to discharge aphorisms. Robust Yankee warriors annihilating endless swarms of natives to the clunking default setting of room-sized synthesisers. And then there was Kurt Russell: the buckled embodiment of the American Dream; the ‘Hell yeah’ guy, frequently playing the unassuming saviour of…